Eden Park stadium: Auckland venue makes new bid to stage six concerts

Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Stuff survey finds most Eden Park neighbours are in favour of more concerts. First published May 2019

The country's biggest stadium Eden Park is seeking a breakthrough with a bid to stage up to six concerts in a year.

Eden Park Trust Board chairman Doug McKay told Stuff the application would be lodged this month, but could take up to a year to get through the lengthy planning process.

Planning approval for individual concerts has until now proved too costly, divisive and time-consuming, but the stadium has decided to make a bulk application to stage six, and then go looking for acts to deliver them.

Breaking into the concert venue market is regarded by the board as a source of revenue vital to secure its future, after a $63 million package of support agreed this year by Auckland Council.

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'We have to get our concerts to get more financially independent, to be able to afford over and above what the council is giving us support for,' said McKay.

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'There's a lot to do at the park, and we need a new source of revenue.'

Eden Park has a conditional right under the city's Unitary Plan, to hold up to six concerts a year, but has to seek a resource consent for each one, a process that lead to the abandonment last year of a proposed charity concert featuring Phil Collins.

The prospect of concerts has divided the communities closest to the stadium, which sits in a suburban area in Sandringham.

A vocal opponent of increased activity at the stadium is former Prime Minister Helen Clark, who lives four streets away.

Eden Park is privately-owned but bills itself the National Stadium

However, nearly 80 per cent of people living around Eden Park support the stadium's ambition to stage night concerts, according to a survey conducted in May by Stuff.

Only 14 per cent of residents opposed the stadium being allowed to stage up to six concerts a year, without having to go through a full planning approval for each one.

'We're not asking for anything that we are not entitled to already in the Unitary Plan,' said McKay.

'Then, if successful, we'll give the community the commitment as to the type and nature of acts we will try to attract,' he told Stuff.

Despite being the country's premier stadium, Eden Park is struggling financially and a report this year by Ernst and Young (EY) said it could run up losses of $80 million over the next decade.

EY said the stadium also can't afford an estimated $62m of maintenance and upgrades needed over the next 10 years.

The bailout package this year included the council lending the stadium money to replace a $40 million bank loan that it could not pay back, and nearly $10 million in a grant for urgent upgrades and maintenance needed over the next three years.

The stadium is also working more closely now with Auckland Council's major venue operator Regional Facilities Auckland.

Mayor Phil Goff approved of the bulk concert permission bid, instead of tackling each concert hope individually.

'That's really time-consuming and expensive so it makes sense for the issue to be put, in one go,' he told Stuff.

Goff was cagier though when asked whether he personally, as mayor, supported the stadium putting on six concerts a year.

'It has always been my understanding that the trust board wanted to do that - they are not controlled by council,' Goff said.

'I look forward to them carrying that forward to the next stage, and it being put in the hands of someone who can hear the evidence and make a decision.'

McKay said the application would go initially to Auckland Council, but thought it likely it might end up directly before the Environment Court, something he described as 'not a bad thing' if it happened.

'I think a concert at Eden Park would be the best concert-goer experience you can have, two-thirds of the audience would be seated, there are the corporate boxes, it has easy access to transport - it would be a great experience for people,' he said.

Eden Park expects to hear any day now whether it will get planning permission to stage its first-ever Sunday night cricket match, a Twenty20 fixture against India in January.